DMAE: Types and Treatment

The term DMAE is the abbreviation of a disease that affects the vision in people from 55 years and that is the Macular Degeneration Associated with Age. The macula is the most important structure for the vision of color quality located in the center of the eye. Any disease that affects this area is going to have a great transcendence in the visual acuity, and in the capacity of reading, recognition of faces or to be able to watch television. It is not a disease that leads to blindness, as there may be other diseases, which deprive us of all vision. Patients who look like Macular Degeneration Associated with Age will be used in everyday life to move quietly through the streets, to use their home, but they will have serious difficulties, for example reading a book, or watching a program of TV.

There are two types, two very specific forms of Macular Degeneration. The dry or atrophic form and the wet or vascular form. The dry form is a more benign form because it evolves more slowly, but can unfortunately unfortunately produce very important central vision loss. The wet or vascular form is a more aggressive, faster form that leads to decreased vision in a more acute, and that the patient must take into account.

Symptoms that are similar, in what the patient notes in one or the other are a little different, in the atrophic or dry form, the patient is gradually losing central vision capacity, and this may confuse or To get to the clarity that you have a cataract, it is important that you know that there are other diseases in the eyes that affect the vision of the elderly that is not only the cataract. In the wet or vascular form, the process is faster, the patient there is a little aware of it and will realize immediately that his vision is being affected by an illness, because he sees less, because he sees spots, because he sees twisted things, because he notices that his reading ability is diminishing.

There are treatments for the wet or vascular form, which consists of a substance that is injected into the eye that in the early stages can even improve the visual acuity lost, but that in advanced stages the only thing is intended to maintain in the level that previously had. That is why the early diagnosis both by the patient or by the ophthalmologist, has a very important transcendence in the maintenance and future of the patient's vision. This treatment is unfortunately temporary and sometimes we have to repeat the punctures with a periodicity even every month, although over time the space between treatment and treatment is increasing and that favors or favors the quality of life of the patient. In the dry form, on the other hand we do not have treatment, it is a less aggressive way as we have said but we have no therapeutic option. They are currently investigating a treatment that involves injecting certain substances that can cause the disease to progress or even improve, but the level is still very experimental.